50 Words of Team E-Scope
by FountainPenguin
Summary: 51) Measure Up- What no outsider could quite manage for any of them. (Written August, 2013)


**1\. Computer**

"Ugh," Izzy groaned, scrubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes. "You two have been playing that stupid computer game for… three hours straight. Can't we go and do something fun now? Like play outside?"

"Be quiet, Izzy," Noah and Eva said together, their eyes never leaving their respective computer screens.

 **2\. Out**

"Forget you dum-dums," Izzy scoffed, walking from the room, "I'm gonna go hitchhike into the city and steal a couple of chainsaws and murder a few dozen lampposts."

"Yeah, all right, Izzy. Have fun."

Puzzled, she came back in and tried again. "I'm going out, okay?"

Eva and Noah both whipped around at that. "You're _what?_ "

Success!

"Catch me if you can!" she shouted, and hurtled down the stairs at top speed, cackling all the way.

 **3\. Terrify**

"You know," Noah gasped out as he and Eva ran through the city streets, "I don't think there are many phrases that terrify me more than 'Where's Izzy?'"

"How about 'Hey Eva, Noah just broke your MP3 player'?"

He gave a nervous chuckle despite himself. "Okay, you win."

She cast him a suspicious sideways glance. "You _didn't_ break my MP3 player, did you?"

 **4\. Cathedral**

"Ha ha, there you guys are! What took you so long, huh?"

Noah clapped his hands to the sides of his head, eyes wide, but for the record, Eva screamed louder than he did.

"Izzy, you're not supposed to be able to get up there! Come down before you hurt yourself!"

"Hurt?" Izzy repeated, knitting her brows. "What do you mean 'hurt'?"

 **5\. Survival**

"Izzy!" Noah still looked shaken. "Seriously, what the heck happened to your _survival_ instinct?"

"Well, there's _surviving_ ," Izzy said, counting off on her fingers, "and then there's _living_. Ooh, ooh, race you to that huge crosswalk!"

 **6\. Villain**

Interestingly enough, all three of them held a strong dislike for Bowser, the main villain of the Mario series.

"He makes girls look dumb and helpless."

"He kidnaps the princess and tries to force her into marrying him."

"It's not fair that he can breathe fire and Izzy can't!"

 **7\. Hair**

"You're so lucky," sighed Izzy as she batted at the end of Eva's ponytail. "I can't do a _thing_ with my hair. Literally, not a thing. It won't even catch on fire."

Eva stiffened up and shot a look over her shoulder. "That's not funny, Iz."

 **8\. Pounce**

"Random tackle!" Izzy screamed, pouncing on Noah from the side. He tipped over under her weight, his eyes never once leaving his book, and with a frustrated sigh she flopped on the floor beside him. "I want attention."

 **9\. Princess**

Izzy knit her fingers as she prepared to boost him into the tree. "Come on, Noah! It's just for the game. We're not even making you wear a dress!"

"I hate to burst your bubble, Izzy, but I'm fairly sure that princesses are supposed to be girls."

"Eva! Noah's being sexist again!"

"Am not, am not!" he screamed back, scrambling up onto the branch.

 **10\. Borrow**

"Road trip, road trip, yay!"

"Noah's coming too?" Eva asked, rather surprised to see him in the back seat, and he rolled his eyes.

"Izzy kidnapped me again. I believe her exact words to my mom were 'I'm going to borrow Noah for a few days, 'kay, thanks, bye'."

 **11\. Price**

"Um… This might be a problem. I only have twelve dollars, and that's not gonna be enough to afford a hotel room."

"I have eighteen," Eva offered reluctantly.

Noah rolled his eyes and took out his wallet. "Fine. I'll get the rest. Here."

They both looked at the money, then at each other, and then at him.

"Noah," Izzy said gently, "you're a boy. You can't sleep in the same room as us."

Noah wasn't sure if he was more surprised with the comment itself, or that Izzy had been the one to say it.

 **12\. Ridiculous**

"You two are being ridiculous. I am _not_ going to spend an extra hundred dollars on a separate hotel room. _Especially_ not when you're making me pay for your room in the first place. I am sleeping with you, and that's final."

Eva made an "Eh…" sound and Izzy snickered into her fingers, prompting Noah to place a palm to his forehead and mutter, "Oh, shut up. You know what I meant."

 **13\. Bed**

"I get the chair!" Izzy screamed, launching herself across the room. "I call it! The chair is mine! No one else can have the chair!"

"Fine by me," Eva said, tossing her duffel bag to the floor. "I'll take the bed."

"Oh, come on," Noah protested, stretching out his arms. "You're leaving me with the floor? I paid for the room! I should get the bed!"

"It _is_ a bed for two," Izzy offered, and they both glared at her.

 **14\. Barricade**

"Look, we can divide it in half longways and put a barricade of bags, towels, and pillows between us. _Now_ can I sleep on it?"

Eva put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes to be sure he got the point. "Noah, we love you, but when you fall asleep, you turn very cuddly very quickly. It makes me extremely uncomfortable."

He raised a concerned eyebrow, pointed to himself, and then pointed to her. She held up three fingers and he slapped himself in the face with a groan.

"I'll… take the floor."

 **15\. Blanket**

"So Izzy has all the pillows, you have the bed and sheets… Can I at least have the comforter?"

"No," Eva said, pulling it over her head. "It's mine. You're the big strong man, you deal with it."

"Eva, you can't strangle people for a 'sexist comment' and then turn around and play the 'weak woman' card like that."

She considered his words for a moment, then said, "If you can take it from me, you can have it."

"Honestly," Noah grumbled, flopping back onto the floor, "You two are the worst best friends in the world."

 **16\. Garlic**

Eva rubbed sleep from her eyes and sat up slowly. "… Do I taste garlic?"

"Oh, cool!" cried Izzy, still rubbing the vegetable against Eva's foot, "It works!"

 **17\. Shower**

Eva said, "Your hair's all wet, Fruitcake."

"Yeah, I just got out of the shower."

Izzy fell over laughing while Noah immediately slapped himself in the face. "Ooh, nice flirt!"

"Shut up, Izzy!"

 **18\. Amusement**

"This is it, guys!" Izzy cheered, scrambling out of the car window before Eva had even brought it to a stop, "The amusement park, all right!" She ran to the front gates, studied the signs on the walls, and then came running back. "Noah, how much money do you have left on you?"

He threw his arms into the air. "Seriously, how much effort do you actually put into planning these things?"

 **19\. Tiger**

Izzy sighed as she flopped down on the empty stool between her two friends. "You know, there's more to do here than play the carnival games."

"How do I keep _losing_?" Eva demanded, slamming her fingers down on the counter. "And to _Noah_?"

"You can borrow it sometimes if you want," he teased, putting his stuffed tiger on his head, but Eva only shot him a death glare and slammed another few quarters on the counter.

 **20\. Isn't**

"Eva." Izzy's eyes were closed, one hand resting on her face. "It's just _stuff_. Let's go have fun and get memories instead, okay?"

Eva growled low in her throat as Noah and Izzy grabbed her arm. "This isn't over," she threatened the teenager behind the counter. "I'll be back! Just you wait!"

 **21\. Screech**

"Feh," Noah said, staring up at the roller coaster with his arms folded. "Do they really have to _screech_ the whole time?"

Eva rolled her eyes. "What babies."

Seven minutes later, Eva and Noah were both screeching and clutching Izzy between them, while she threw her hands into the air and yelled, "All right, this is so awesome, woo-hoo!"

 **22\. Disapproval**

"No more… upside-down rides," Eva moaned, falling face-first onto the grass, and Noah collapsed beside her with a groan of, "Ugh, motion sickness!" Izzy only put her hands on her hips and _tut-tutted_ her disapproval.

 **23\. Bump**

Eva and Izzy had so much fun with the bumper cars. Noah watched them with some concern from behind the safety fence, wincing sympathetically each time the two rammed into another victim.

"Eva!" he called, "Tone down the road rage before you get yourself thrown out, okay?"

 **24\. Cream**

Izzy leaned across the table and lowered her voice. "If you were ever going to kiss her, you should do it now while she has chocolate all over her lips."

"Yeah, no thanks."

"Oh, come on! If you would just kiss her the same way you eat your ice cream-"

 _"Tut-tut-tut-tut-tut!"_ he said rapidly, waving her into silence with his spoon. "I really like ice cream, all right? Please do not ruin it for me."

She shrugged and pulled away, but a few seconds later Noah clapped a hand over his eyes and gave a groan.

"Thanks a lot, Izzy. I am never going to get that image out of my head."

 **25\. Adorable**

"Aw," Izzy cooed, peering over the back of her seat, "Isn't Noah so adorable when he's sleeping?"

"Sure is," grumbled Eva as she dragged him from the car and threw him over her shoulder. "He's _so_ adorable, I could scream."

Izzy screamed, and when Eva cast her an odd glance she only blinked innocently. "Sorry. I just assumed it applied to me too. Guess I should've asked permission first, huh?"

 **26\. Trust**

Eva looked first at the hotel bed, then the chair, and then put Noah on the floor. "I'm going down to the pool. Keep an eye on him."

"Okay," Izzy chirped, and that brought Eva pause.

"On second thought, I'll stay here. I don't trust you with him while he's sleeping."

Izzy raised her eyebrows, half-offended, but then she gave a smug smile. "Aw, you _do_ care."

 **27\. Contradiction**

"Can we go? Please, please, please, please?"

"No," Eva snapped, gaze locked on the road. "Zoo's boring. I just want to get home."

Izzy didn't reply, and after a few seconds Noah turned around in the passenger seat to look at her. Immediately he clapped a hand to his forehead.

"Izzy just jumped out the window!"

"Aw, forget this!" Eva shouted, U-turning the car. "What part of 'No' does she not freaking _understand_?"

"The part that contradicts with her own opinion, I suppose."

 **28\. Away**

Izzy sighed as she lay on her back in the grass. "Sometimes I just need to get away from it all, you know?"

The monkeys chattered in agreement as they took turns picking through her frizzy hair.

 **29\. Stress**

"I can't believe I just lost my best friend." Eva was tugging at loose strands of her hair, pacing back and forth in front of Noah. "In a freaking _zoo_. What if we don't find her before she does something dumb, like feed someone to the alligators or rob gift shops or set all the elephants loose?"

Noah held up a finger and cocked his head. There was a screech of delight, and he pointed in the general direction it had come from. "That way."

 **30\. Boring**

"You were right," Izzy said sadly as Eva sprinted across the parking lot, Izzy thrown over one shoulder. "The zoo _is_ boring."

Eva threw Izzy into the car. " _You_ stay here while I go and rescue Noah from security. What the heck were you _thinking_? You can't just throw someone into the freaking hippopotamus exhibit and expect to get away with it!"

 **31\. Fifty-Seven**

Once Eva had gone, Izzy reached down the front of her shirt and pulled out a small notebook and a pen.

 _Attempt to Hook Eva and Noah Up #57: Assuming Noah does not get eaten by cannibal zoo security people, we_ will _look back on this and laugh someday very soon, like tomorrow. Also, Izzy should probably not follow the romantic advice of wagtails and sandpipers ever again._

 **32\. Supporter**

"Can we crash at your house tonight, Eva? Noah lives, like, five hours away and I… Well, uh, I live even further away than that, ha ha, so if we could just crash at your house, that would be great."

"Do I really have a choice?" Eva grumbled, pulling the car into her driveway. Then, without waiting for an answer, she added, "Fine, whatever. My dad won't be home for another two hours." She turned off the car and Izzy scrambled out, laughing maniacally at nothing in particular. Eva anxiously watched her go, and then she glanced at Noah in the rearview mirror.

"Uh… When my dad does get here, just- just ignore anything he says, okay? He's, um…" Eva struggled with the words, then finally bit her knuckles and mumbled out, "… a bit of a 'NoVa' shipper."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Home sweet home."

 **33\. Potion**

"Does this soup have 'love potion' in it?" Noah asked suspiciously as he took the bowl.

"Oh, Noah," Izzy teased, "How could you think that? If the soup had love potion in it, it would turn all pink and stuff. Besides, love potions are cheating. I _want you_ to have a crush on Eva the normal way. I _want you_ to confess your love in your own time. I _want you_ to be happy."

She went on like this, playing with his hair, as he sat, twitching. It was the hug that finally snapped him. Noah stood quickly from his seat and backed away, rubbing his arms, staring at the both of them. When he reached the door on the far side of the room he spun around and took off down the hall, leaving the dumbfounded Izzy and blank-faced Eva behind.

"Congratulations. You just broke Noah."

 **34\. Guilt**

"What are _you_ crying for, Iz?"

Izzy's elbows were on the table and both her hands were tangled tightly in her hair. She wouldn't look up from her plate.

"Noah… Noah's supposed to be the strong one and I- I didn't mean to… to make him… I was just playing!"

 **35\. Surrounded**

"I- I think he needs some cuddles."

Eva rolled her eyes and focused instead on cutting into her steak. "Yeah, and _I_ think he needs to be alone."

"No. He _needs_ cuddles."

"Then why don't _you_ go and cuddle with him?"

Izzy shot her a terrified look. "And make things worse?"

"Ugh," Eva grumbled as she put down her fork and stood. "I am surrounded by morons."

 **36\. Sympathy**

He wasn't crying. He never cried. He was far too stubborn to do something like that, and at first glance he even seemed to be perfectly fine. He was reading a book that he'd found somewhere, dull-gazed, but his knuckles were turning white and his legs had been pulled up to his chest. He flinched away when she sat down beside him, but that didn't stop Eva from pulling him into a rough strangle-hug.

"You're not getting any sympathy from me, Fruitcake. You're not going anywhere until you start talking. We're not mind readers- You've gotta talk to us or we'll never know what we did to set you off."

 **37\. Stomach**

Izzy leaned against the door, listening as Noah mumbled words like, "India, nutjob, stupid story, immigrate, abusive, Canada, Dad, downstairs, kitchen… was only six years old… didn't know I was listening… didn't sugarcoat it… Just never got over it, I guess" to Eva on the other side. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her stomach.

She felt sick.

 **38\. Surprise**

Izzy massaged her cheeks until she was smiling again. Then she threw open the door and put on expression of surprise. "Wow, is this what I think it is?"

Noah raised his head from Eva's shoulder to give her one of his typical dull stares before he simply put his head back down. Eva rolled her eyes and rubbed circles on his back, mouthing the words, "Not now," in Izzy's direction.

Sheesh.

 **39\. Marathon**

"Oh, cool!" Izzy cried, pawing through the cabinets in the living room. "You still have your Total Drama DVDs? I can't find mine anywhere. Let's watch them all together like a marathon! It'll be fun!"

Noah and Eva reluctantly joined her, and they all shared several snickers throughout the "Not-So-Happy-Campers" episode, such as teasing Noah about how his jump from the cliff had been edited out, as well as Eva receiving her marshmallow at the campfire ceremony, but when "The Big Sleep" came on, both of them tried to snatch the remote from Izzy's lap.

"We're, um, skipping this one."

 **40\. Candles**

"Izzy," Eva said slowly, "Why do these candles you're lighting look suspiciously like bombs?"

"I dunno… Here, catch!"

 **41\. Gift**

"Tiny robotic Izzy shoulder angels and devils?" Noah asked, raising his eyebrows at her over the gift box. "Wow, I've always wanted some of these. How'd you know?"

 **42\. Swoop**

"No!" Noah screamed as he watched Eva go down beneath a mass of Sand Guardians. "Why? _Why_? The Scarab Emerald was right there! You were so close!"

"If that were real life," she said, looking up from the computer, "Izzy would've swooped in on a vine to save me and beat those dumb statues into unconsciousness with a box of graham crackers."

 **43\. Normal**

"Yeah, something tells me that shouldn't have sounded so normal."

 **44\. Future**

Beth watched uncertainly as Izzy tottered out from her alleged time machine, moaning and clutching her head.

"Um. So did it work? Have they hooked up yet?"

"No. He's still dating that one really boring lady and she's still a recluse living in her apartment. We'll have to keep trying."

 **45\. Kiss**

It was purely sarcastic, eye rolls and everything, blown to Eva across the room when she had burned her fingers (again), but it still totally counted.

 **46\. Spaghetti**

"Let me get this straight. You and me and Eva… together at a spaghetti dinner."

"Uh-huh."

His sigh came through the phone as static. "Izzy, how stupid do you think I am?"

Noah hung up on her then, prompting Izzy to grab fistfuls of her hair. " _Urgh_."

 **47\. Bridge**

She called him back a few minutes later. "Noah, I'm standing on a really tall bridge right now, and if you don't come, I am going to throw myself off of it."

There was a pause. Then, "I'm not sure if I should be more concerned with the knowledge that I know you can actually do something like that and survive, or the fact that you seem to think threatening it will solve something."

"Okay, okay, how about this: If you don't come, I'll tell the paparazzi where Eva lives. Social anxiety freak-out city, ha ha!"

There was another pause. And then a groan. "The things I do for her," she heard Noah mutter, and Izzy pumped her fist.

 **48\. Absent**

"Seriously, _where_ is Izzy?" Noah was rubbing at his temples with one hand. "She can't just invite us to a restaurant and then not show up."

 _Oh, yes I can,_ she thought, peering out at them from behind a decorative plant, but then her brow furrowed. _Aw, jellybars and soap suds, there's the stupid paparazzi. They'll never kiss now._

 **49\. Distraction**

"Eva, Eva," Noah chanted, trying to keep her attention off the cameras, "Just calm down. Instead of hurting them for real, imagine their Kosmic Kao avatars being messily killed and devoured by a pack of hungry dragons."

She gave him a nervous smile as she sank a little more in her seat. "Is that what you do, Fruitcake?"

"All the time."

"Hey everybody!" Izzy shouted, appearing from nowhere. "Look over there! It's Courtney and Duncan!"

 **50\. Understand**

Eva breathed out a sigh of relief as the paparazzi retreated. "I owe you one, Iz,"

"Where _were_ you?" Noah demanded, throwing his arms into the air. "Do you have any idea how long-?"

"No time!" Izzy grabbed their arms and yanked them from their seats. "We have to get out of here before they realize those are just three dozen pufferfish dressed in elaborate costumes!"

Eva and Noah exchanged glances before taking off on her heels. "I love that girl, but I definitely don't understand her."


End file.
